Head of the Year/Months

Some people have concluded that there is a conflict between the Scriptural definitions of the "Head of the Year". But a close look will demonstrate that there indeed is no conflict. Why are there places where it seems like the 7th month is the head of the year and why do we begin counting the year in the 7th month?

The Masoret text of Lev/Vay 25:9 says...  

And you shall sound a shofar, a signal, in the 7th month in the 10th of the month, in the Day of Atonement

  Now that tells us clear as day that the Jubilee year is counted when?.....Tishri to Tishri.  Now read all of Vayikra 25, and you will see it clearly teaches us that ALL counting of Shmitta (7th year ro Sabbatical year), harvest, etc., must be in line with Jubilee.  Note in verse 8, where it tells us that the counting of Shmitta years must align with Jubilee.  So obviously, the 7th month is the start of the year of Jubilee, Shmitta, harvest, buying property, etc.

Some people see this as being in conflict with Exodus/Shemot 12:2, but its not. Aviv is the first month for the purpose of setting the calendar.  But no where does scripture call Aviv the "the headof the year".  What it says is (I'll simply translate the Masoret into English here)....  

"This month is to ye the head of months.  It is to ye the first of the months of the year." (Exodus/Shemot 12:2)

  It does not call Aviv the "Head of the year" but the "head of the months of the year".  So Aviv is counted as month 1, the next month is month 2, etc....but the Year of Jubilee, Year of Shmitta, Years of harvest, selling/buying property, are counted from the 7th month until the 7th month.  When we count years as 5760...5761...5762...5763...etc...we are COMMANDED in scripture to count them from the 7th month to the 7th month.  Note that Lev 25:8 says....

= "And COUNT to you 7 sabbaths of years...." (Vay 25:8)

  So we're suppose to count the years, and we are suppose to mark that count from the 7th month, until the 7th month, as is clearly explained in the rest of Vayikra 25. (You'll have to read on to see where it says this starts in the 7th month, but I just quoted the most important verse from here earlier in this post.)  So Rabbinical Judaism is counting years just like Elohim told them to do it.   No where does it say to count year 1, year 2, year 3, .... year 576x... from Aviv to Aviv.  It says to count the MONTHS from Aviv to Aviv, but not the years.  I don't know of anywhere in scripture where it says it is proper to call a period from Aviv to Aviv by the term "year".  If you know of one, let us know.  Maybe it's OK, I just don't know of where in scripture is says a "year"/"Shanah" can start and end at a time other than the 7th month.  Can a "year" be a period of time from the 5th month to the 5th month?  Or should that period of time have another name?  Can a "year" be a period from Aviv to Aviv, or should that period have another name?  I don't know that scripture answers that question....it simply says count your months 1,2,3,4,....12, (sometimes 13) from Aviv to Aviv, and count your years 1,2,3,...5762, 5763, 5764....etc.... from Tishri/Ethanim to Tishri/Ethanim.  And that is exactly what Judaism is doing - counting their months and years exactly where Elohim said to start and stop. this is why the FALL is called the "turn of the year" in Exodus/Shemot 34:22, because its when the year "turns" or its count is incremented.   Note how it says this....

"Celebrate

Is this confusing?  Maybe a bit so to newcomers of Torah since no other society counts their years from anything other than the 1st month.  But we can't let the traditions of men influence how we interpret scripture.  Just because human traditions call month 1 the month a year starts in does not mean Elohim will do the same.    But its important to understand the Jewish point of view before arguing its wrong.  Many people, both in the Church as well as in Messianic movements of some sort, can be eager to say that Judaism has messed everything up, but they are in fact, following these instructions exactly as they are laid out, even if it is not how men would have numbered things.

Jewish tradition teaches that there are 4 "heads" to 4 different types of years. In the Mishnah, Rosh HaShanah 1:1 says:

"There are four new years:

So while there is some minor disagreement in Jewish tradition on this topic, we still see in RH 1:1E that Jewish tradition correctly determnied that Tishri to Tishri is when years are COUNTED, just as Lev 25:9 describes. But it also recognizes another type of "year" that begins on the "Head of the months" of Aviv/Nisan for kings and for setting the calendar.

Now note that for the 2 "years" that are described in scripture, Jewish tradition contains no debate on. But for the other 2 "years", we see some disagreement on how to reckon those.

Now why does the Scirptures tell us to count the year from one seventh month to another? Keep in mind several things: A word for "year" really doesn't exist in Hebrew the same as in English - that is - a word used EXCLUSIVELY to refer to a measure of time. The Hebrew word for "year" (shanah) also can mean "change", "repeat", "study", and perhaps G-d wants us to see all these concepts in this time of year. And there are several instances in which the 7th measure of something creates or precedes a great change in Scripture.

Also, we know that Rosh HaShanah (The "Head of the Year" or the "Head of the Change") symbolically represents the second coming of the Messiah, which is when the biggest change the world will ever see will happen. And setting this in the 7th month could be a hint as to how this event will happen in the 7th Millenium of mankind. The Scriptures tell us that a day is like a thousand years, and many people believe that our Savior will return after the world has had 6,000 years of existance to start the 7th Millenium of mankind on earth as its earthly ruler. At http://mywebpages.comcast.net/jovial/learn/mc/timeline.htm is an interesting discussion on why the year 2000 was probably somewhere between 5,954 to 6,034 years since creation, though no one can pin the time frame exactly. But perhaps He wants us to see His return to earth as something that happens in the 7th of a measure of something as a hint towards what time frame He will return to those of us who do believe?

Now in many ways, the number 7 is symbolically linked to rest. But we see a change connected in two ways; things in motion are set to rest and other things changing immediately after a measure of 7.

Whatever the case, we can say this with all safe conclusions:

So whatever God's reasons where for having us "see" a "year" or a "change" in the 7th measure of something, this is the association He made and there must have been something symbolically important in the 7th measure of something in which he wanted us to see a change.